Sofia Parfanovych – Ukrainian Doctor and Enlightener (Dedicated to the 120th Birth Anniversary)

Abstract

The life and work of Sofi a Parfanovych (1898-1968) has been analyzed, who was one of the prominent ascetics of Ukrainian medicine, fi rst female Ukrainian student at the medical faculty of Lviv University, active public fi gure and writer. Sofi a Parfanovych and Sofi a Okunevska are fi rst female doctors in Western Ukraine that awakened Ukrainian women to education, struggle for gender equality and social progress. Sofi a Parfanovych graduated from Lviv University in 1926 and obtained the diploma of a doctor. She started her professional career at the General hospital in Lviv, then started private medical practice and became a gynecologist at "Narodna lichnytsya" hospital. In 1929, doctor Parfanovych headed the anti-alcohol section of the Ukrainian Hygiene Society, as well as the chief of anti-alcohol and anti-nicotine society "Vidrodzhennya". She and her husband Pylyp Volchuk were leading active enlightening activities: they published about half a million postcards, posters, and magazines with slogans promoting healthy lifestyle and eradication of bad habits among the population. As a scientist, Sofi a Parfanovych published a number of articles dedicated to the diagnostics and treatment of pleural empyema in children, mycosis as a female disease, protein therapy of certain female diseases, chronic alcoholism and infl uence of mental retardation on the level of crime among teenagers. Moreover, doctor Parfanovych published works on hygienic education of families. The most famous of them are "Female hygiene", "Proper nutrition", "Husband and wife". In late 1939, Sofi a Parfanovych was elected a Director of the Paramedic and Obstetric school in Lviv. Two years later, she presented a thesis on the topic of "Metastases of malignant tumors of ovaries to the central nervous system" and became a docent at Lviv Medical University. In the end of the World War II, she emigrated to Vienna, and later -to a small Austrian town Telfs. After some time, she moved to Bavaria for the purpose of treating her husband Pykyp Volchuk (he died in 1946). In 1949, Sofi a Parfanovych emigrated to the USA, where she spent seven years to affi rmed her doctor's diploma in order to obtain a license for private medical practice. She worked at her own medical offi ce in Detroit, and later -at the State Hospital for Mentally Challenged People in Lapeer, Michigan. However, due to retinal detachment of the left eye, doctor Parfanovych had to stop her medical practice. Since 1962, she fully dedicated herself to the literary work. She completed fi fteen artistic works, collections of novellas, stories. In December 1968, Sofi a Parfanovych died and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit. The life of the doctor and enlightener Sofi a Parfanovych demonstrates mercy to every patient, as well as professionalism, creativity, and active public position. All this contributed to the development of the Ukrainian culture and nation.